Margarine is made from vegetable oils that have been hydrogenated and crystallized to remove high-melting triglycerides in order to achieve the proper spreading texture. The vegetable oils may also be blended with lesser quantities of animal fats. The use of hydrogenated vegetable oils has the disadvantage of reducing the more nutritionally desirable unsaturated fatty acids and increasing less desirable saturated and trans- mono-unsaturated fatty acids.
Many efforts have been made to reduce the amount of fat in margarine and to provide a reduced calorie margarine which still has the texture and mouthfeel of full fat margarine. These efforts have also been directed to substituting liquid triglyceride oils for saturated animal fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils. The advantages of liquid triglyceride oils in terms of health benefits have been documented many times. U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,921 to Reimer discloses an emulsion comprising a continuous aqueous phase and a dispersed fat phase. The emulsion contains one or more thickening agents which can be selected from the group consisting of alginates, xanthan gum, locust bean gum, guar gum, agar, carrageenans, pectins, methyl cellulose, methyl ethyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose, gelatin and combinations thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,126,161 to Poppe relates to a stabilizing and emulsifying composition for the preparation of low-fat spreads containing from 70 to 85% by weight of gelatin, from 7.5 to 15% by weight of iotacarrageenan and 7.5 to 15% by weight of xanthan gum.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,684 to Fung is directed to a low calorie fat substitute comprising a non-flowable aqueous phase and an oil phase with the interaction between the aqueous and oil phases resulting in a pourable emulsion. The aqueous phase is rendered non-flowable by the addition of an effective amount of a gel-forming composition selected from the group consisting of alginates, xanthans, carrageenans, succinoglucans and scleroglucans.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,076 to Finlayson, et al. is directed to fat-continuous emulsions with a reduced fat content. The emulsions comprise a fatty phase, a thickened proteinaceous aqueous phase and an emulsifier system. The emulsifier system includes mono fatty acid esters of both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,187 to Izzo, et al. describes a process for preparing an edible spread having a fat content lower than margarine. The spread has a continuous fat phase and two distinct aqueous phases.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,867 to Platt, et al. describes a low fat spread and process for preparing a low fat spread which is a water-in-oil emulsion. The aqueous phase has at least 8% by weight of one or more proteins derived from milk and from 0.1% to 1.2% by weight of a modified starch.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,795 to Bosco, et al. is directed to a low fat spread and a process for preparing the spread. The spread comprises from 10 to 30% of a dispersed fat and a continuous aqueous phase containing an emulsion stabilizer and an emulsifier system including both lipophilic and hydrophilic emulsifiers. The emulsion stabilizers are hydrophilic colloids which are selected from the group consisting of microcrystalline cellulose, carrageenan, guar gum, alginate, xanthan gum, methyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose, dextrins, starch, gelatin, locust bean gum, soy protein isolate and pectin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,520 to Miller, et al. describes a reduced fat spread which is an oil-in-water emulsion having from about 20% to about 40% fat. The spread utilizes a thickening agent which includes major proportions of hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose and microcrystalline cellulose and a minor proportion of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,790 to Bosco, et al. is directed to a liquid spread having less than 30% of a dispersed fat. The spread has a continuous aqueous phase containing an emulsion stabilizer and an emulsifier system comprising a lipophilic emulsifier and a hydrophilic emulsifier. The stabilizer is a hydrophilic colloid which is selected from the group consisting of microcrystalline cellulose, carrageenan, guar gum, alginate, xanthan gum, soy protein isolate, methyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose, dextrins, starch, gelatin, locust bean gum, pectin and mixtures thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,408 to Bosco, et al. is also directed to a liquid spread having a continuous aqueous phase containing an emulsion stabilizer and an emulsifier system comprising a lipophilic emulsifier and a hydrophilic emulsifier. The stabilizer is selected from the same group of stabilizers as are described in the '790 Bosco, et al. patent.
Thus, it can be seen that the prior art is replete with reduced fat spread products which, in general, utilize the same group of well-known hydrocolloid emulsion stabilizers.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a reduced-fat margarine-type spread utilizing a unique stabilizer. It is another object of the present invention to provide a low-fat spread prepared from liquid, edible vegetable oils wherein the liquid vegetable oil is thickened with calcium gluconate as a thickening agent.